Free Ranging Cats, Wildlife & New Studies About Management

I miss the birds. For most of my adult life I have fed wild birds, and watching them has added immeasurably to my life. In some places, like here at the farm, there have been 8 or 10 feeders up, overflowing with creamy, white suet and shiny, black sunflower seeds. They attracted a multitude of species, adding color and life to the grey and brown blahs of winter. In other places, all I could manage was one tubular seed feeder hanging isolated and alone outside of an apartment window. But still, it brought me scarlet red Cardinals and Military Blue Blue Jays. So beautiful!

But Jim and I have taken down the feeders at the farm, because farm cats Nellie and Polly were killing the birds they attracted. It seemed profoundly unethical and environmentally wrong to create a situation in which we were luring birds to their death so that we could enjoy watching them. But we need the cats. Without them, we have rats in the barn. Once they got so bad they came into the house. Believe me, this is not an animal you want in your house.

With the cats we have no rats; without them we have lots. All other forms of prevention are not effective or safe for the dogs. I’m talking communities of Brown (“Norway”) Rats,large, shiny-eyed imports from Europe who stare at you accusingly when you have the audacity to enter their barn. Before Nellie and Polly came (and after Sushi left), for all I know they were preparing to log onto the internet and advertise “Tunnels to Rent!” on Craig’s list.

But free ranging cats, whether feral or owned, can do a lot of damage to wildlife, even more than previously believed. Nellie and Polly kill enough rodents that I sometimes apologize to the Red-Tailed Hawks soaring overhead and say “I’m sorry!” It is not a perfect system, I hereby admit. But there are one or two cats living on a farm as there are here, and there are large colonies of feral cats living all over the country that add problematically to the population and to the damage to wildlife. But how should these large groups be managed? It is a tough question, and the reason why new research from the ASPCA on how to manage colonies of free-ranging cats is so important. You can read a summary of it here, or go to the full articleand get all the details.

The study compares different ways of attempting to decrease colonies of free-ranging cats, especially TNR (Trap, Neuter and Release, usually back to where the cat was captured) versus Trap and Don’t Return (which ranges from adopting out to the more draconian euthanasia). It simulated the results of different management techniques, and found that, although TNR can be successful in some environments, it will take much longer than other methods to reach zero population growth. One practical implication of the work is that it is most effective to spay/neuter as many animals as possible in a colony at once, instead of a “catch them as you can” approach.

Of course, the question remains: If you don’t return the cats to where they came from, what happens to them? Some wildlife advocates say they should be killed, because they cause so much damage to native species. Others, including myself, are strong advocates for finding the cats homes if possible, sending them to sanctuaries, or returning them spayed or neutered if that is the only alternative.

These are issues that are often difficult to discuss. Getting wildlife ecologists and cat lovers and rescue groups to sit down together and strategize is not easy. This issue pushes a lot of buttons and makes objective discussions challenging. One of my colleagues at the University of Wisconsin received death threats for suggesting that cats kill large numbers of birds, a fact which is now undeniable. I brought this issue up on my radio show once, and was barraged with people enraged that 1) anyone would let a cat outside when it is safer inside, 2) anyone would force a cat to live inside when it has evolved to live outside, 3) anyone would accuse cats of killing wildlife, 4) anyone would let their cats outside and kill wildlife… you get the idea.

You can see examples of this in the comments to the ASPCA blog–some of then are on the snarky side. But I credit the ASPCA for attempting to add to our knowledge of how to handle this difficult issue. To many of us, cats are companion animals and members of our family. To others, cats are non-native invasive animals that threaten species already beleaguered with pollution and habitat destruction. To me, they are both, and the least we can all do is acknowledge that it is an important issue and do what we can to ameliorate conflicts between our pets and wildlife. I’d argue that most importantly, we 1) Need more research, 2) Need to acknowledge that TNR can work in many environments, but not in all, 3) Agree that all stake holders need to work together and be respectful of one another, and 4) Need to go pet a cat, because we all need a dose of oxytoxin after being brave enough to objectively consider this issue.

This morning the Black-capped Chickadees called from the pine behind the house, and even though I didn’t get to see them up close, I loved hearing them and knowing that they were at far less risk from Nellie and Polly. I am happy that Jim and I have made the choice that we have… it is not perfect, but it is our best compromise. We simply are doing the best we can, and that’s all anyone can ask of others, to at least understand that there is a conflict between our beloved cats and wildlife, and that we need to be in a conversation with all “sides” about how to deal with it.

I’d love to hear your (constructive and respectfully worded) thoughts. Do you have cats? Indoor or outdoor? Ever had a rat in your kitchen?

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Things are a bit quieter here, now that the ram lamb Little Big Man has gone to his other home to breed the eleven ewes there. He was not happy to be wrangled into the truck, but forgot it all soon enough upon encountering a group of receptive ewes, three of whom immediately accepted his favors.

Jim and I enjoyed taking bags of Christmas goodies around to friends this weekend (carrot/applesauce bread, herb rolls, Jim’s famous Christmas cookies and Greenies for dogs and cats). Such a wonderful way to connect with dear friends, I love that part of the holidays. We also celebrated Solstice on Friday night with some wonderful friends who go way back (both were clients of mine a million years ago!) Willie and Maggie got a long, off leash walk at a local, county park Sunday morning. We haven’t taken those kinds of walks as often as we used to; I was reminded how good it is to get our dogs out and about to different places where there are new scents to investigate. I have held off a bit until I was 105% sure that Maggie had an instant Stop and Recall. I tested it out early on the walk and both dogs stopped in their tracks and turned to look at us. GOOD DOGS! we said, ran back a few steps and gave them a liberal dose of yummy treats. I gave Maggie treats a few more times after that (the walk lasted about 40 minutes) any time that she happened to come close, to remind her how fun it is to stay connected. We also took off running the time Maggie took a trail to the left and we went right. Jim and I dashed down the trail as fast as we could so that Maggie would look up and go “Argh! Where did they go?” It works beautifully for dogs who deeply care where their humans are, and not a bit for others. You are forewarned. Play the “Disappear game” on a German Shorthair and you’ll be searching for your dog for hours.

Tootsie didn’t go on the walk, it was much too far for her. She kept the couch warm for us. She did, however, fall out of bed last night and hit the ground with a resounding thump. I think I was almost as shocked and scared as she was–I felt her start to go but couldn’t stop it from happening. I’m happy to say she seems none the worse for wear. Poor babe.

And the kitties? Staying close to home, curled up in their feline igloo more often than not. We have a heating pad underneath it, and they do love to cuddle up in it together. Nellie sometimes goes with us when we take a walk up the hill, even if there is deep snow on the ground; so fun to go on a walk with a cat! But no snow now… it’s cold and colorless with rain expected. Yuck. Not the best of weather for sure, sort of awful really. Mud mud mud when it is not supposed to be mud season. Maybe a little snow before Christmas? That would be nice. How about you? Snow? Or is it summer there…

Here is Polly in a very, very different season. Was it really ever so green here?

Nellie loves the low window that looks into the barn. She likes to sit in it basking in the sun in warmer weather.

Comments

You are brave to bring up this issue! Cocklebur and I worked out a compromise. He was a stray orange kitten, and loved the outdoors. I love the birds, so we built him a large screened enclosure with at-will access via a window in and out of the house. The “catatorium” (8x10x8) was made of PVC pipe and chicken wire, with one corner enclosed so he could be comfy out there in bad weather if he so chose. I am not the world’s most handy person, but I designed and built it with just a little help from my husband, and it worked great. Cost: about a hundred dollars and a weekend of work. He had grass, shade, sun, dirt, logs to climb on, high and low perches, and if the occasional juvenile house finch fluttered through a gap at the top of the door, it flunked Survival Of The Fittest 101. He enjoyed it till the day he died, at the ripe old age of 16.

Thank you, Trisha, for your courage in broaching such a difficult topic. I am a wildlife biologist who keeps my cats steadfastly indoors, and that has made for some unhappy cats (and humans) over the years. Not all cats can adjust, I wish that were true. However, free-ranging cats can kill a great deal of wildlife in addition to just birds, and can draw in other predators such as coyotes, bobcats, and even cougars. They can act as disease reservoirs and vectors. If your cat has to go out, you can help a lot by keeping your cat fully vaccinated and trying to limit outdoor activity to broad daylight if you can. It is also important to not attract extra wildlife (it is hard to forgo a birdfeeder, they are so much fun! Maybe just a suet feeder so you won’t attract birds on the ground?) If you’ve got particularly sensitive wildlife around for a bit (migrating songbirds or hummingbirds? Baby birds just out of the nest? Young rabbits just out of the bushes? Cool snakes or lizards not able to escape until the weather warms up?) consider keeping your cats confined during the period wildlife are particularly susceptible. Some populations and species of wildlife are much more able to handle the extra losses than others (sadly, we’ll never be done with brown rats, but cats have decimated some populations of birds on islands especially). A little thoughtfulness can go a long way to helping reduce the problem. Cats are not the only sources of heavy losses of our wildlife, and we all have work we can do to lessen our impacts. That would be much more productive than pointing fingers. Thanks again for your efforts to start a more coherent and thoughtful dialog.

We have a small group of feral cats that live around our barn. We trapped them and had them spayed/neutered by our very kind vet. The cats are invaluable for us for much the same reasons you outlined. Without them we have a massive rat population around the barn and with the rats come an equal number of rattlesnakes. If the rattlesnakes just went about their business it would be ok but there are the inevitable accidents and encounters where for instance, a foolish young goat baby, cream of the kid crop, decides to investigate a little too close and we find out too late to help her. We still call the cats feral even though many of them have become quite tame and we do feed them some food to make sure they stay in good condition but still interested in hunting. Love your reminder about the importance of new smells for our canine friends. One of my young dogs is suffering from CHD and on restricted activity. I find that taking him on what we now call an “olfactory outing” helps a great deal in keeping him content even though he can’t race about as usual. His favorite spot is the arroyo wash. My guess is that many animals travel through and the low lying location holds onto a lot of interesting smells. Seems to be a form of brain drain for my boy, similar to some great training sessions and has helped a lot.

My current cats are indoor only, as are any cats I will own in the future. More correctly, they are indoor/outside supervised only- JJ walks on a leash everyday in good weather, and I’d love to build an enclosure for them someday. People forget that leash walking/enclosures are an actual thing that can be done. We reduce the choice down to total freedom or never see the sun, and perhaps reminding people that the issue is more complex would be more beneficial.

My cats are indoor both to protect them and to protect the environment. But I think we need to remember that even if every cat owner in the country decided to keep their cats in tomorrow, we would still have a huge feral population. For many of those cats, ‘find them a home or send to a sanctuary’ simply isn’t an option. People willing to take in an feral cat are few and far between; sanctuaries are even fewer. For these cats, the ONLY choices in our current system are release or death. As a feral colony caretaker, I have to live the fact that I am putting the cats over the wildlife, but for me personally, I just don’t feel like it’s really a choice. I believe in no-kill, and one of the factors of no-kill is well-functioning TNR programs. While TNR may not be the most efficient choice (obviously just shooting every feral or community cat would take care of the problem very quickly!), it’s really the only humane option there is.

We also live out in the country, but our tree situation isn’t ideal for birds – lots of deciduous, no evergreens – so we don’t get too much more than sparrows in the winter. But that’s ok, a bird is a bird, despite my mother’s dislike “it’s just a house sparrow!”

We also have barn cats – all spayed and neutered, so to avoid the unpleasantness of too many kittens (another story, another time) – who do kill the odd bird but are around to keep the mouse population down. Which, really, when it’s been a bad mouse year (for us, a good year for the mice), they seem to get to a tipping point and don’t even care about eating them anymore…however, I digress. 🙂

I don’t think it’s the feeders that draw the birds for us, except the winter sparrows, and then there’s too much snow for the cats to do any stealthy killing. They do get to the summer birds – mostly the odd flicker or robin, sometimes a warbler. And we cry a little over each one – so sad to see such beauty gone.

So it’s imperfect. The cats aren’t always good mousers and sometimes better birders. In our area, I suspect it’s all the chemicals used in farming that is having the worst effect on the wildlife. You make some decisions which are harder than others and do the best you can. Could you hang the feeders in such a way that no birds will be harmed in the feeding process? You’ve always had such a gorgeous variety with all your trees and more temperate weather.

Trisha, thank you for bringing this topic up. It is indeed an emotionally charged one. I live in an urban neighborhood with two large TNR feral cat colonies. The fleas in the summer are horrendous and both my dogs and cat ended up with bad tapeworm infestations before I realized how numerous the fleas were. Even with people caring for the cats, I saw one last summer with an untreated broken leg that limped for several months. On the other hand, I have seen a cat carrying a large dead rat and was glad the cat had caught it. But what diseases and parasites was that cat exposed to by catching and eating that rat? I am not a proponent of TNR programs because of the miserable conditions the cats continue to live in. Fleas, parasites, disease, cold, malnutrition from poor food. But I understand many people are too tender hearted to consider the alternative. So, I make sure my animals, including my indoor cat, have flea medication, even though I believe it can affect their health over time. And I also do not have bird feeders because there are feral cats that frequent my yard. That is the best I can do. We human beings have to find ways to live with each others’ differing values and to accomodate the consequences.

Some studies have shown that cats primarily catch birds during the day and rodents during the night. So one option might be to allow barn cats out at night and confine them during the day. Then you can have your bird feeders back and still have your rat control.

thanks as always for your calm caring approach to this difficult issue. I for one find all the irrationality on the pro-cat side. One issue you didn’t mention is that, under current laws, everyone becomes a cat “owner”… since cats (even owned ones) are allowed free range. If you don’t want a cat on your own property because you feed birds, have a garden, don’t care to step in cat poop? Too bad. If your dog kills a cat on your own property? In some states, it will be declared “dangerous” and subject to seizure and death.

My husband and I have made the exact same decision here this year too. We have two cats who do a great job keeping the mice out of our house and chicken coop. Without them we are overrun with mice, even though we are meticulous about keeping all food in mouse-proof containers, except of course the food available to the chickens. The mice still seem to seek shelter in our warm home in winter here in the woods of New Hampshire! We used to hang bird feeders from the second floor balcony, but birds just never seemed to see even our orange cat just waiting on the snow below to catch anyone who ventured to the ground. Too many tragic piles of feathers in our living room and now the birds are on their own for winter fodder.

Funny you should mentioned this topic now. I have a new cat to the neighborhood coming in my yard often. He is put out 12 hours a day even a couple of weeks ago when we had arctic condition, and last week when there was so much rain the city sewer flooded. So I let him in a bit but I have to put my BC away. Anyway two days ago I found a dead bird in yard. I have feeders and water etc for the small song birds and I throw peanuts in the shell for the crows when they call me. It brings me a lot of pleasure hearing the birds. I live in a loud area of town and I miss being in nature. So I figured it was the cat doing the killing and he has been spending all his days in the garden. I called the owner number on the tag, with the usual response I imagine we all get when calling the owner of a free ranging cat… so I am asking my dog to patrol the garden now. She won’t bite but she vigorously herds, I think that will be good enough. There were years when I had birds and cats, and I did remove the feeders and planted trees that would provide food for the birds. Your extension service can help or maybe you can visit a good birdshop not too far? We have Backyard Bird in Portland OR., a shop that will go beyond expectations to help. For the bird baths in the summer I had an area bigger than a cat can leap covered with chicken wire with bird bath elevated of course and out of reach.

It is not just a farm issue. Bodegas and restaurants in NYC generally keep a cat or two in order help keep rats at bay. I don’t think there is another solution as if you use traps or poison they become wise or immune to those setups not to mention you can and will poison other animals. Five bald eagles were accidentally poisoned after eating animals that had consumed the poison when a park tried poison for nuisance animal control. Part of the difficulty of the situation for me is the definition of balance in ecosystem/population…at some point some creatures are just going to thrive and others are going to diminish and most likely it will cycle back the other way. Choosing who or what to protect is a very private choice and not matter what policy will not assuage all sides.

Ah, what wonderful readers! Your comments have been so thoughtful and informative. First thank you for the thank you’s for bringing up the topic. Much appreciated. Interesting point about the research that most rodents are killed during the night, birds during the day. That, of course, makes perfect sense, given that all the birds are quietly roosting when it is dark (except ground nesters). And thanks Jen for the reminder of the many ways that we can alleviate some of the problem by keeping birds inside during critical periods. I kept Sushi inside when the warblers came through in spring, and when fledgelings were about to leave a nest by the house or in the barn.

My family had barn cats when I was little. I remember when I was maybe five, I saw one of the cats catch and try to kill a young bird. I “rescued” it from the cat and brought it crying over to the house, wanting my mom to somehow save it. Unfortunately, it could not be saved.

The cats also killed a lot of squirrels, to the point that, even after all the cats were gone, it took several years for the squirrel population to come back.

I have first hand knowledge about the impact free ranging cats can have on wildlife. However, I am in favor of TNR programs. Patricia, I agree with you about having a balanced approach. None of our barn cats were ever spayed or neutered. If we had implemented some kind of a TNR program on our farm and kept the cat population much smaller, we could have (maybe) maintained the wildlife population at a more acceptable level.

We have two cats who go outside for a few hours a night on tracking collars so we know where they are. In the ten or so years we have had indoor/outdoor cats, they have mainly preyed on rodents, mainly voles, shrews and kangaroo mice with a rabbit thrown in every so often. They have gotten a few birds (less than 10) and we do have bird feeders. Most of the stuff they get are the animals that have the survival strategy of having TONS of offspring with most of them not reaching reproductive age. In this scenario the cats fill the niche of small predator that used to be filled with weasels, foxes and larger rodents. As we live in the middle of a dog park we know those small predators are no longer around. In addition, the cats keep the rabbits out of our garden. All of our cats have been altered and current on vaccinations.

I have frequently wondered what the population of song birds was prior to the advent of bird feeders? I know people who go to huge effort to get particular types of birds to come to their feeders and this along with other consequences of more intensive human land-use have caused changes in bird behavior. Two examples of this is the increase of Canada Geese and the larger number of Robins over-wintering in colder areas. These animals then suffer when we have an extremely cold winter like we did last year.

The question of the feral cat is one that is certainly controversial and full of emotion. Taking on such an issue is sure to bruise feelings. Cat people are as passionate as any animal lover. I have worked with rescues for more than 10 years and can tell many stories, sad and humorous, but all are imbedded with a deep passion for the cat.

There has always been a differentiation between the feral and the house cat. Many cats that are in the wild do not start out there but are dumped, unaltered on a piece of land outside of town where their descendents are left to populate the dreaded feral cat colony. I often work with rural land owners that want us to remove kittens when they become too plentiful. Yet they refuse the offer to spay and neuter the adults because they can’t afford the risk of being catless or they like the spring kittens. The price is high for all including the kittens, many will die an ugly death of starvation and disease.

I have experienced the mouse/ rat in the house, my personal cats surround it but do nothing to end it’s existence. My Great Dane is a much better indoor mouser than any of my cats. She plays with them like a cat would. She does try to be an mentor to the cats. So far there has been no transference of knowledge.

In a rural area, vermin infestation is inevitable if you don’t have cats and have food available. It is a problem that is as old as farming. It’s not a benevolent world. We can’t apply those kinds of rules and expect to resolve the issue. Species exist at the expense of other species. Humans tend to be involved when the balance gets out of whack. The bird feeder is a perfect example of our interference. We bring them there for our pleasure many times at their expense.

A conversation is definitely due to address this issue at a high level. Many of us work tirelessly trying to address the issue on a micro level, one cat at a time. We make little progress and many cats are euthanized each year, while others thrive in the wild producing even more kittens. I would love to see a larger more influential group intelligently address this issue. this is more difficult than the loose dog issue because cats have evolved to have a job to do on a farm.

By the way, I too had to remove my bird feeder, I found I was holding a hawk buffet. It was pure carnage on a daily basis.

We have an indoor-only cat because of the birds. Our equine stable was overrun last year by rats who loved the wonderful job we were doing composting our manure. They chewed on the wiring for our fire alarm system which fortunately alerted us to the fact that they were chewing wires. That necessitated pulling up floor boards in the hay loft, cleaning out nests and adding even more PVC conduit than we already had, as well as replacing wiring that had been damaged. Between the birds and a very busy state highway close by, I will not have a cat in the barn. A friend brought her Jack Russell Terrier for supervised hunting, and he had a wonderful time. We found a bait box with poison for the rats that other animals will not approach (supposedly). That has helped to reduce the rat population immensely. A visiting mink comes from time-to-time to clear things out as well. Wish I knew how to get him to become a permanent resident. We stopped adding kitchen scraps to the manure which slows down composting, but is a reasonable choice. Barn fires from faulty wiring are a nightmare. This is a complicated topic. Thanks for raising it… Sorry I talked more about rats than feral cats! I was traumatized by that event.

There are a lot of issues to consider and some are different areas . Here across the interstate is a very large area preserved for Ducks and Geese. Now if a dog is off leash there, it will be shot but there are tons of Coyotes. Those coyotes come across the interstate at night and if cats are outside, they will not live long. People still though look at this side as farm land and dump cats. We trap them, Spay or neuter and have a cat door into a heated in winter shop so they can get away from the coyotes. I seldom see signs of dead birds but do of cats that did not make it and of parts of mice and rats. Farmers here mostly raise corn or wheat. They keep it in silos. The corn and wheat is checked when sold for too much rat / mouse/bird excrement. The safety of food supply and the living of those farmers is at stake. We have a lot of hawks and eagles who fly overhead so there is a large supply of food for them. Remember, they also catch cats. Personally, I love and enjoy all birds, cats, dogs and even watching the coyotes early in the morning before they retreat back across the interstate to the reserve for the birds. If you feed birds, do it up very high. and in a place where cats cannot climb and squirrels also. Do it where you will not mind the weeds that grow below from the dropped bird seeds. We have some high tension power lines not too far from the house and the birds sit on them and sing, chirp etc. they know the danger of the cats and seem to tease the cats when outside.

The cat topic is a real hot one, but it does need to be discussed. I too am very sad at the low numbers of birds these days, but I don’t believe cats are the main factor . Our large cities with glass buildings smack in the middle of migratory paths take out tens of thousands of birds every day. Starlings are a major issue when it comes to destroying songbird eggs and babies. Cell towers and pollution, not to mention the horrendous number of song birds that are caught and eaten in Europe and Asia by humans. Everyone loves to blame the cat, but I believe cats do far less damage to the bird population than we humans. I think we need to be responsible and spay and neuter, as well as keep our cats well fed. I don’t believe in keeping cats as indoor only pets, I feel that is cruel. Historically, the cat has been blamed for just about everything at some point in time (interesting that the cat is associated with the feminine and just look at how woman are viewd around the world). I think we need to look more at ourselves.

We live near a large feral cat colony. It’s horrible. The destruction of wildlife is bad enough, but they’re a hazard in many ways to the people and pets in the area. The cats are clearly diseased, and they are constantly coming into our yard, which they use as a toilet. I worry that our fenced dogs will contract illness from them. They fight all night and keep everyone in the neighborhood awake. I have to take MY birdfeeders down so that it isn’t a cardinal killzone.

There is a woman that comes and feeds them near our house, which I suspect is why they are in such high numbers near us. I would ask feral cat feeders to remember that cats are not the only creatures around- there are neighbors with small children and pets, and our safety matters. It sometimes seems that feral cats are placed above every other organism’s health and happiness, and this is a problem.

I’m always interested in these pros and cons, having 2 cats to do the mouse patrol on our property. The one thing I rarely hear from critics of working cats is that humans are the most invasive, creative/ destructive species around. So managing our cats is vital, but it’s a bit of a stretch to think other habits like driving cars, building homes, spraying chemicals on food and flowers, contaminating soil and water for our human convenience isn’t a greater challenge to wildlife than barn cats. Full disclosure: Nelly appeared as a stray and chose our garage to birth and raise her lovely 7 kittens, Polly, Zippidee and DooDah, Hummer and Dozer, Casper, and my keeper, Sputnik. All found wonderful homes and give their owners great pleasure. Trisha, we are so great full you hired Nelly and Polly to protect your barn. Could you develop a flash card system for cats showing rodents, yes, and birds, no. Thanks for giving us lots to ponder and observe.

I am allergic to cats so I don’t own any, but “some of my best friends are cats.” My complaint is that the neighbors’ cat wrecks my garden and kills the birds I feed. I had to take down my bird feeders. The cats are not employed to catch mice, just allowed to roam at will. They die fairly young and fairly often – hit by cars or killed by other wildlife. I find the situation very frustrating. The neighbors just get another cat. They also allow their dog to roam the neighborhood annoying people, but the dog doesn’t seem to kill very many things. It’s a tough situation and I would love to find an answer that would protect the birds. In my situation, I tried to get them to put a bell on the cat so nothing would get killed, but they said the bell would annoy them. I know that is not a good answer in the case of barn cats. I hope someone finds a better answer to the very difficult dilemma. Thanks for opening a discussion.

Growing up we always had a feral cat colony in the barn. It was part of the local ecosystem with the cats eating mice, rats, and the occasional bird and the cats providing food for the coyotes, hawks, and owls. It was interesting watching the different populations rise and fall in conjunction with their predators and prey.

Today my two cats are indoor only. Well, Meowzart and I agree they are indoor only; The Great Catsby thinks he should be indoor/outdoor. Fortunately, Ranger agrees with me so when Catsby goes out he is immediately transformed into livestock to be herded. Inside Catsby is the boss and can actually take Ranger’s food away from him (very funny to watch the 13 lb cat bossing the 90 lb dog) but outside Ranger is in charge and Catsby is put back inside.

The wood rats that set up housekeeping in the brush pile in the yard were immediately dealt with by Finna channelling her inner terrier. She’d pounce, grab, shake/kill and then bury it again in the brush pile. I figured she was doing her part to chlorinate the wood rat gene pool. I keep my predators leashed and confined. There are acres of woods around us. Moving into territory that is clearly owned by a couple of large dogs is just plain stupid.

You’re a brave woman, Tricia. I am in the “everybody hates the person in the middle” part of the spectrum. I have had cats all my adult life, mostly Siamese–I currently have 2 rescues, a Siamese & a Siamese mix. All my cats have been indoor only. I do consider cats to be an invasive species, & appropriate only to manage other invasives like the rats or pigeons, & then only under carefully controlled conditions. In my personal experience, I have had mice in the house, but never rats. The mice appeared in 2007, when my previous cats were geriatrics–at that point 19, 17 & 10. They all died within a few months the next year–at the time of the pet food recall, altho’ the brand I fed was never implicated, & a necropsy was inconclusive (I even wondered about hantavirus from the mice)–& when the vet cleared me for another cat I adopted Bramble from my local humane society. The mice evacuated, & I have not seen, or seen evidence of, another. My current neighborhood is infested by feral cats, & that’s the word I use. One of the neighbors (who recently moved away) was feeding them, & providing rudimentary shelter, so Animal Control considers them “owned” & would not permit me to trap them. No bird feeders, of course. Not many birds, either. A few months ago one came into the fenced part of my yard, & I let the dogs out before I saw him, & of course they both went after it. My guide dog puppy was clawed in the face, 1/4 inch from her eye. I was meditating the proper approach to the neighbors, trying to figure out how to point out how to remind them that is they “owned” the cats they were legally responsible for any damage they did, without starting a neighborhood feud–those never end well–when I saw the moving truck. Of course they didn’t take the cats, & of course no authority has charged them with abandonment. If I let my dogs out to roam the neighborhood the police or Animal Control would be stopping by right away, but not if I let my cats out. Any idea why there’s such a double standard? Are free-roaming cats, whether owned or not, not perceived as a menace to public health & safety unless they exist in very large numbers, whereas dogs are? Size? Dogs’ ability to form packs & hunt together? Is it just a cultural shift that hasn’t caught up with cats yet? In my childhood in the 1960s in a small Indiana town most people let their dogs run free, & those who objected were not given much sympathy, & those who confined their dogs, usually on a chain, were seen as cruel. That’s seen a big change in 50 years. I’ve got a lot more questions than answers.

I have 7 cats, all spayed and neutered. I live next to a woods in Wi and feed the birds in 5 different areas all surrounded in some way with 4 ft wire to prevent the cats from sitting right underneath the feeders. I let the 4 male cats out at 9 in the morning with red or pink collars that have extra red and white stripped fabric around to make the cats more visible to birds. I call them back in at noon, tempting them with a meal of moist cat food. This is the daily ritual. I also have special film on some windows so the cats can see the birds at some feeders really close to the window but the birds can’t see in. When young birds are around in the summer I have 2 kennel type enclosures with tops to let the cats have some restricted outside time. Most days it works well. Not a perfect system but a compromise.

Of the three cats I’ve owned, I have one who has only the most casual interest in the outdoors, one of those cats who never adjusted to being indoor-only, and I had one traumatized tom, now deceased, who dreaded the very idea of the outside world.

For ten years, I kept all three indoor-only because I lived in a place that was just too fraught with danger- dogs, traffic, feral populations, and a robust level of urban wildlife (possums, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, etc.) Two out of three cats were fine with this arrangement, but my one kitty, born feral, never gave up the dream of outside. Every sunny day, she’d howl at the windows, try to pry out the screens, and slip through the door. Still, I remained resolute.

When we moved to our very quiet corner of a suburban village (at the end of a dead-end surrounded by other dead-ends), no free-ranging dogs. I decided that if this place wasn’t safe enough for the cats to go out, no place was. Still, I worried, so my compromise was this: I let the cats out only in the middle of the day, only when I’m home and can keep an eye on them, and only when the weather is fine, with no rain and temperatures well above freezing, even overnight.

My indifferent cat likes to go out and sleep on the deck furniture on a pleasant day, but that’s about the extent of it. My one-time feral, though? Is blissfully, totally happy. She prowls through the bushes, basks in the sun and sleeps in the shade, stalks the mice and chipmunks out by the shed. She does hide in the bushes under the bird feeder, but in all my hours of watching, I’ve never seen her even try for a bird. She’s stalking the rodents who come for the seed on the ground. I saw her feral mother with one rodent after another, every day, and I suspect that if such a thing actually occurs, my cat may be more or less a pure rodent specialist.

Spending so much time as indoor-only seems to have made an impact, though. Both cats will come back to the door and cry to be let in so that they can use the litterbox- I have mixed feelings about this. Pro- no annoyed neighbors, con-they mostly stay in the yard and it might be nice if they’d pee outside at least occasionally 😉 . I realize that it may be aberrant, but my adventuresome cat also faithfully comes when called.

So as it stands, that’s the deal I’ve worked out with my now elderly cats, and if it isn’t totally satisfying to all sides (my adventurer would dearly love to go out earlier in the spring and later into the fall), it’s at least much better for her. It’s also mostly comfortable for me, and I’m eternally grateful that my cats aren’t scything through the bird population, harassing the neighbors, getting killed by coyotes, or disappearing for days at a time.

I do appreciate what a difficult decision it is for people, though. Honestly, once this generation of cats is gone, that will be the end of the question for me. I don’t need a cat as a working animal, and between allergies (my husband AND my mother) and the indoor/outdoor ambivalence I’ve always felt, it just isn’t worth it for me. I love my cats dearly, but they will be the last ones in my household for the foreseeable future.

Thank you so much for posting about community cats! I live in Virginia, where there has been ongoing discussions about what to do with community cats. Virginia’s local government laws give the least amount of power to localities and the most amount of power to the state — and a state law that lists what public animal shelters can do (return to owner, adopt, transfer to another shelter/rescue, or euthanize) was written at a time when no one was thinking about TNR. So we are in a bit of a legal fog about TNR in the face of the public shelter code section’s silence.

Snarky is an understatement when it comes to TNR opposition. It has been an outright battle to seek to clarify the law here, just to allow localities to choose among options to handle community cats. Really amazing when all that is desired is to clarify that localities can implement TNR as an option.

My only comment would be one re: bird feeders. We had a bird feeder on a pole in the middle of our backyard and enjoyed the comings and goings of a variety of birds, but it attracted too many bushy-tailed rodents of the squirrelly kind, which we did not approve.

I find the squirrels here are very aggressive, surprisingly. I’ve never met squirrels like the ones here in the Madison, WI area. Before I had dogs, they would literally come up to the kitchen window and stare me down. I’m sure they were staking some claim to the black walnut tree that stands in our neighbor’s yard before I got any funny ideas. I also find it incredibly difficult to plant anything by seed – the squirrels will most likely dig up the seeds. I do not want squirrels in my backyard. Additionally, they set my dogs off and ruin the peace and quiet one should enjoy in their backyard, over the whirring of the nearby foundry.

So my husband and I did two things: we rabbit-proofed our fenced-in backyard and we took down the bird feeder and planted lots of shrubbery (ie. roses and elderberry bushes).

The rabbit-proofing worked wonders. There are significantly less squirrels and rabbits, which makes my gardening a much more happier and fruitful effort. Taking down the bird feeder didn’t really take away the pleasure of bird watching. In fact, by planting berry-producing bushes, we have more avian visitors – and spend much of our free time enjoying watching the birds.

Interestingly enough, the cats free-roaming in our neighborhood have killed squirrels numerously – I have not noticed any dead birds in my neighborhood.

One thing that will help in keeping the cat population in check is to treat cats with respect. Where I live we have finally just got a new animal protection act which gives cats the same protection as dogs. So now it is an offence to abandon a cat and you now need a vetrenarian certificate to sell a cat. Cats too often are treated as disposable pets. Again, the problem is more a human problem than a cat problem.

This is a very complex topic. As a wildlife biologist I have two (feral born) cats that are strictly indoors (and fine with it – I provide LOTS of toys, cat trees and cat TV in the form of window shelves that look out into my bird filled garden). After observing the reality of life “in the wild” I’m not a fan of TNR but I understand the desire to save the lives of cats. Some cat colonies are not too bad but in general feral cats live a short, hard life. I think for many of these cats euthanasia is a better option than living under those conditions.

There is no clear answer. I think this is one issue where lots of different things need to be considered to determine what is best for that situation. A feral cat colony in an urban area where someone monitors their health and will try to catch that cat with a broken leg – TNR. A feral cat colony in a national park where no one is caring for them and endangered species should be having a safe refuge for their survival? Catch, adopt if possible, shelter if there is one, or euthanasia. We need to evaluate each situation individually and not declare a blanket statement that one solution is the RIGHT solution.

I have brought multiple feral cats inside. Mine have all adapted. I don’t let them outside for their safety and the other wildlife. Always spay and neuter. If we were to bring them indoors and spay/neuter wouldn’t that really help?

Oh! So complex… I work at a shelter, manage a feral cat colony at my home and have two personal cats, so I get a lot of different perspectives on the issue without having a single good answer to any of it. We have TNR programs, reasonably well managed colonies and some adoption options for feral cats to barn cat homes… it’s still not nearly enough. Two thoughts–TNR is probably easiest to take as a humane option but so clunky to execute–dang, if we just had a cat contraceptive that was fast, cheap and easier than trapping, surgery, etc.–something we could “put in the water” or deliver in food, wow would that help. Second thought… I’m not saying throw in the towel or throw up our hands and do nothing, just… I worry us human beings are always trying to control things we may not have that much control over: we let these genies out of the bottle and then dash around looking for quick get-the-genie-back-in solutions that release more genies that we then try to fix with more good/bad ideas… Several billion incorrigible meddlers (that’s us) in an environment aren’t going to have a small footprint–if half of us think “meddle more” is the answer (manage, TNR, etc. ) and half of us think “meddle less” is the ticket (let them all die, or sort it out “naturally”)… Hmm. Like we’re always trying to change things about the other animal (feral cat, invasive species, dog behavior, etc.)… and we can’t find a solution because we’re addressing the wrong problem. If we can’t learn to control ourselves, no way we can “control” anything else…

My two cats are indoors only (except for occasional leash walks). I have occasionally wished that we could do an outdoor cat for mousing/ratting, as we have a rodent issue. But the coyotes, fox, and Fisher Cats are all quite willing to control the “outdoor kitty” population for us, and since we have a large wild predator population here the effect is noticeable. We have someone nearby who apparently believes cats should be outdoor animals, we’ll see a new cat come through regularly for a few months, and then we’ll never see them again. And on several occasions the disappearence occured after hearing a cat in distress nearby. And a couple months after that a new cat will start wandering through…..

I don’t mind true barn cats, they rarely stray far from the property they’re hunting on. But the outdoor kitty in an area where they’ve already had god-only-knows-how-many cats dissappear just pisses me off.

For feral cat communities I prefer TNR to catch and kill.

I do find that keeping the neighborhood cats away from the feeders is as simple as teaching them to be afraid of my dogs, which is surprisingly easy.

For the feeders, can you hang them from the house eaves maybe? That would keep them out of the range of the cats, and still allow you to enjoy the birds.

May I just add a funny note? We have no cats in the yard because of our dogs. And I love birds and the dogs leave them alone. But….. janouk did not leave the bird feeders alone. After finding a bag of birdfeed he developed quite a taste for it (that day he ate almost 3 kilo’s, he pooped ten times the next morning, mostly undigested seeds). No matter were I would hang the silo’s, he would find them an destroy them… Janouk is now no longer with us, and the current dogs aren’t interested in seeds, so we have feeders again :-).

As for the cat debate; I once posted a film I accidentally made of Spot and Shadow catching a mouse. I posted it to show how quick they can be and how strong they are at that moment. Pfff I was almost kicked of the site. How dare I let my dog kill another animal and why didn’t I punish them after the fact. A couple of the commenters owned cats. Freeranging ones…

Funny thing is, in another topic people were complaning about the free ranging cats because their dogs reacted to them. Well, my dogs want to chase cats which I do not allow. In town they are on a short leash to prevent accidents with cats. But I do not feel I can complain about the cats running around. Especially around farms where they have jobs to do…

Enjoying the discussion very much. On an unrelated topic (you did mention her at the beginning of the blog), I was wondering how Sushi is doing? She must be getting up there in age (solidly into middle age ?). Hope she doing well in her adopted home.

Love that you brought this up! I work at an animal shelter with a fledgling TNR program. We’re doing research right now on the best way to manage feral and free living cats and I’m really enjoying the discussion here. Right now, it’s pretty much one cat at a time because we don’t have the resources to do much more. We alter and adopt out the kittens we catch and spay/neuter and return the adult cats, unless they’re ill or injured, in which case we euthanize them. It’s a very slow process but I do feel that we’re making headway getting the community on board. We know that we have a long way to go but until there is an alternate, humane solution to TNR we’re just going to keep plugging away. Except in very rare cases, all of our adoptable cats are placed in indoor only homes. The risk of run ins with wildlife, cars, dogs, etc. is just too high and there are few things worse than scraping a cat that you bottle-raised off the side of the road. And of course, we also worry about the impact of cats on the local wildlife.

I currently have two cats and both are indoor cats, although I’m currently building them a secure outdoor area in my townhouse’s backyard. I grew up on a farm and we always had well-cared for indoor/outdoor cats and barn cats. After losing two beloved cats in one summer, I decided the keep my indoor cats strictly indoors. One of my current cats is fine with it but the other would dearly love to go outside. I recently read Temple Grandin’s “Animals Make Us Human” and was inspired to step up my enrichment game to keep them happier indoors. Her recommendation that cats be allowed outdoors in rural areas surprised me a bit but I do understand her point regarding quality of life. Enrichment for indoor cats (and dogs, too!) is a topic worthy of discussion in and of itself. One day when I live on acreage again I do plan to have barn cats but my current kitties will always be indoors unless I’m with them or they’re securely contained.

In the regards to rats in the house…I haven’t had many issues with rats but did have a mouse that lived in the kitchen for months when I was in my late teens. The cats ignored it and it managed to avoid every trap we set. One evening I was washing dishes and the mouse came running out of the cupboard right in front of one of the cats. The cat lay there and watched it dart around without moving a muscle…I was flabbergasted. However, we had a young rooster living in the house at the time (My mom was an interesting lady. She raised the rooster in a box in the kitchen because his mom abandoned him. His name was Binky – haha!) and he grabbed it in his beak and killed it with a WWE-style body slam. We still talk about it over 10 years later!

We used to have massive rat problems in the barn and although the cats were clearly fantastic hunters (judging by the number of dead rats we found), they just couldn’t keep up. A few times a year we’d go on a huge rat hunt with the dogs and get the population back down to manageable levels. It might sound weird but now that I live in a townhouse, I’d given anything to be out there dealing with farm problems. One day…

I am conflicted about cats. I remember growing up in the 70s, where I was amazed that a friend of mine had a litter box for her cat. After all, it’s so much easier to just let the cat out! And we did, and had free-roaming dogs as well. Fast-forward to today, where I have just recently donated my cat-run and other cat supplies to a rescue since the last of my indoor-supervised/enclosed outdoor cats died. So it’s been quite an evolution in beliefs about cats and what is appropriate care for them in that time.

Do I think that free-ranging cats kill wildlife? Of course. Do I think that they are the main culprit in the decline in songbirds? That is the tricky question. Cats can have a huge impact on an isolated population. That has been definitively proven. But what makes the population isolated? That’s the more difficult situation to resolve. I think many people latch onto the feral cat issue because it’s easier than considering all the other factors that impact the environment and the species in them. “Someone else” keep their cat inside is easy to try and enforce. “Maybe I shouldn’t buy that house in that new neighborhood that used to be woodlands” is a lot harder to get people to adopt.

And another item that I wrestle with is the idea of “preserving the natural order”. What exactly does that mean? How long does an animal/plant need to be in an environment before it’s no longer considered an invasive non-native species? Yes, humans brought cats to most of the areas that they are now found. We also brought the starling, horse, dog, cattle, quaker pigeons, and rats. Yet it’s the cat that is the most maligned as an invasive predator, although mustangs and cattle grazing on federal lands also do a huge amount of damage to the native balance. But once again, it’s easier to point at someone else’s cat as opposed to giving up steak for dinner.

I used to have bird feeders, which attracted a broad array of birds: blackheaded grosbeaks, scrub jay, California quail, thrashers, goldfinches, titmice, red-winged blackbirds, cedar waxwing, and the common ones… sparrows, house finch, etc. I stopped because the feeders were also attracting rats (I’m thinking wood rats) and gophers. I have pondered putting them back up since the cats are now gone, but am not going to because my little 9.5 pound rat terrier is convinced that her yard should be bird-free. She’s flushed the covey of quail out of the bushes that they use for cover, barks incessantly at anything that lands in the yard, and has even chased off an egret that came over after visiting the neighbor’s pool. Which is quite a sight, considering that the egret is 3 times her size! So it’s not just the cats that are a threat to wildlife.

The other reason that I got rid of the feeders was because of the hawks. Cooper’s quickly learn where feeders are, and I could tell the instant one was spotted by the sudden flurry of birds taking shelter in the nearby bushes. One sight I will never forget is the day I saw one snatch a sparrow off the porch… swooped down, grabbed it and turned without ever touching the ground. Beautiful predator. In its defense, the sparrow was definitely ill, since it just sat there on the ground as I and two dogs walked past it, so if the hawk didn’t get it, something else would have.

At the end of the day… it’s a complicated situation, with complicated answers. And it’s a discussion worth having, as long as it doesn’t descend into name calling.

I have mixed feelings about bird feeders at least as much as about cats. They can cause population and disease problems themselves. My suburban cat goes outside for short periods durring the day. I spent a fair amount of time with him constantly supervised and calling him back if he headed off too far out of our yard. I don’t supervise as much now. He does catch the occasional chipmunk or garter snake. I saw a feather on him once. Generally I consider that the suburbs are a heavily transformed invironment with generally a lack of natural predators, and the local indoor-outdoor cats are never going to have the impact that cars and buildings have. Trap and release spay and neuter would be fine for any feral population here, though I know other areas have much more delicate ecology and more problematic cat populations. There are still tons of other human caused impacts on wildlife I would treat as higher priorities, so to each their own on the cats outdoors issue, from my viewpoint.

This is a tough topic…it seems groups and individuals are in constant battle on this topic. It really comes down to how can these animals live harmoniously. I believe TNR works as long as colony managers provide food and shelter. The cats then hunt for something to do and would mean they aren’t hunting for food. If you have feeders and outdoor cats…you are luring birds in. However consider placing the feeder higher and away from high cat traffic areas or posts where they can obtain easy access…to keep cats away. Provide other cat enrichment (placing treats or food in small quantities in multiple areas) to aid in providing alternative activities. I do understand the need for outdoor cats and think its important to remind folks that humans have created the feral cat issues that exist today…does that mean cats should pay the price? I think TNR is the compromise that allows cats to live a normal life and reduces the population in a humane way. That combined with tips on feeder placement reduces risks and allows both birds and cats to live in the same environment. If birds are still being killed then consider removing feeders. Spay and neuter stops reproduction for that animal…is we all do our part in time the problem should right itself.

Dogs have long been treated legally differently from cats. One of the oldest and most important distinctions: in the US, most jurisdictions held you liable if your dog killed a neighbour’s chicken, but not if your cat did so. Only one state, Rhode Island, requires cats to be licensed, and only 3 have comprehensive Cat Codes, while all have Dog Codes, and most require dog licensing.

More and more jurisdictions are now including cats in some “pet” legislation, though, particularly with regard to certain types of animal cruelty and hoarding.

But most jurisdictions still do not believe you can legally “abandon” an adult cat that has free access to the outdoors. (Leaving one locked in an abandoned building would likely fall under the cruelty laws.)

Also in most US jurisdictions a dog can be declared “dangerous” for attacking other dogs, people, or livestock–but not for attacking cats. Cats generally aren’t legally divided into “safe” and “dangerous” categories at all unless there’s infectious disease (no matter how many other cats they fight with).

So legally, the biggest distinction is that historically dogs are expected to be able to be “safe” around strangers, other dogs, and livestock–or restrained on the owner’s property if not. And their owner is held responsible for the dog’s transgressions.

Cats historically were regarded as small useful predators, potentially dangerous to everyone, but fenced OUT by the owners of prey animals rather than fenced IN by the people the cat lives with. And cats are just cats, legally–owners are generally not regarded as having control over their behaviour.

If you give a cat access to an area it couldn’t reach otherwise, whether it’s a hotel room or your neighbour’s rabbit shed, you could be responsible for that. Same as if you let in a raccoon. But in most jurisdictions in the US if your cat is just running around loose, you aren’t responsible for what it does. But you would be with your dog.

Again, local laws can vary a lot, so for any specific question, check with a local legal expert. These are just the general legal principles that have tended to apply historically in the US.

A friend of mine who is a lawyer sent me this quotation a few years ago. He thought it was William James, but didn’t have a full attribution. To me it sounds more like Shaw, but I’ve never been able to find a source. For all I know it came from a Dickens Faire or something. But it does encapsulate the historical principle nicely.

I’m chiming in not because I have cats, but I think this is an interesting conversation that brought a few questions to mind. Several commentators allowed that there is some affect on the local bird and wildlife populations when letting their own cats roam, but they do it anyway. It seems to me that if we “have” a cat or dog or ferret, it’s our responsibility to do as much as we can to minimize the impact on our surroundings (neighbors, wildlife, environment, etc). I’m puzzled as to the lines drawn in this context. Would we have the same behaviors and opinions if there were free roaming dogs taking rabbits or squirrels or cats to such an extent that it has an effect on the overall population?

The second puzzling thing to me is broadening out this topic to include the built environment, loss of habitat, other predatory animals when really the question posed was do you and/or how do you feel about letting cats roam free and the effects on the bird population and other wildlife. There is a long list of reasons most of our wildlife has been affected by human actions, and there are numerous studies on domestic cats’ affect on the bird population. Of course development — be it housing, shopping malls, highways — has a ripple effect on habitat and wildlife. And of course there is a prey order in the “natural” world, but I am unclear how this relates to letting Tabby or Tommy out to roam.

Cats are predators and don’t seem to discern between killing a rat or a mouse or a robin regardless of whether we witness it or not.

A fraught question indeed – maybe not as much as dog food, but getting up there! We are lucky to have no rats, two happily indoor cats (hand raised by us after being rescued at the age of three weeks from a garbage bag tossed in a dumpster, so no outdoor exposure, which definitely makes it easier) and very few neighbourhood cats to patrol our numerous bird feeders. When we lived in Calgary, the city implemented a leash law for cats (leashes required when off the owner’s property, traps available for people to use.) I don’t know how that’s worked out in the intervening years, but it was quite rare to see cats outside there. Of course, it helps that Alberta is kept assiduously rat-free…

We do have 2 cats, and they kill an enormous number of moles, some mice, and – very occasionally – a bird. We also have bird feeders, but our bird feeders are hung in our very securely fenced back yard, and the cats live in the barn because we also rescue and foster Jack Russell terriers (who are not usually remotely cat-friendly). The JRTs are great at killing rats, and only one of them ONCE has caught a bird successfully (a low flying swallow in the summer flew a tad too low). The JRTs occupy the house and the well-fenced back yard, and the cats do not trespass, since they are not suicidally inclined. So the birds are pretty safe from their depredations. 🙂

Just a comment about cat colonies and feeding them: I have read studies that well-fed cats catch more wildlife than hungry ones do. You want a good mouser? Make sure it’s not hungry. It makes sense when you think about it. A well-fed cat is in better condition, and more capable of using its brain and cunning instead of pouncing out of desperation and missing. And, as anyone with a pet cat can tell you, they are still quite willing to jump and pounce and play with fast-moving objects when they aren’t hungry. Dangle a cat toy in front of a cat that has just finished eating, and they will bat at it and chase it around.

So… feeding a cat colony may actually increase the number of birds that they catch.

@Lisa W: The reason that the topic generally gets broadened out is because the issue is raised as “cats impact on wildlife”. And the flip side: “can cats be content without roaming”. The problem is that cats are a relatively recent addition to the domestic animal scene, having been first domesticated around 12000 years ago (as opposed to 19000-32000 years ago for dogs). And most of the time that the cat has spent “domesticated” has been filling the role of small, roaming predator to keep down vermin on the farm. So there has been very little selection for traits that make cats content to laze around indoors. In fact, there has probably been selection against those traits, since the first question someone getting a new cat for a farm was likely to ask is “was the mum a good mouser?”

So this question tends to get cast as “what can we humans do to limit our impact on wildlife?” Not letting cats roam is definitely one thing, but there are other things that we can do as well. And then the other side of the coin: what do we need to do to fulfill our pets natural inclinations? People set up lure coursing events for sight hounds, tracking events for scent hounds. There are earth dog events for terriers, and agility and herding for the herders. We are encouraged to take our dogs out for walks, and to make sure that they are mentally stimulated. So, it can reasonably be asked, shouldn’t we be doing the same for cats? And if a large part of cat history has been as a free-ranging animal, then is it fair to ignore that and say that they should be content inside a house, never going out, never touching grass or climbing trees or stalking a grasshopper through the yard? Yes, there are ways of simulating that inside. But that then runs up against the popular perception that cats are easy pets… you just get them and they take care of themselves and you don’t need to walk them like you do dogs. So man people find it easier to just let the cat outside.

Which is why this is a very nuanced debate, and why it tends to get very acrimonious very quickly.

For some reason, the quotation didn’t come through. Here it is again. It’s supposed to be William James, but I’ve never found a source.

A dog can be educated to the laws of man and his own society, and therefore can be held accountable to both. A cat knows no rule but her own whim, and so cannot be held liable for a proscription that she will never understand.

The invasive species predation argument isn’t usually about birds caught at the feeder. Instead, it says that when there is a feeder with a ready supply of food, birds will tend to nest nearby. These nests are usually within range of the cats that live with the humans that are providing the bird feeder. So the birds are being attracted to areas where the cats can go after their nests. It’s quite likely that the bird feeder in the yard where your dogs are aren’t nesting in that very same yard, but rather somewhere within a half mile or so–and that your outdoor cats have access to those same areas.

The argument is logical, but remains controversial for all of the many reasons discussed by others above. Unlike some other invasive species situations cats aren’t filling a niche that was unfilled before they arrived. Birds are prey animals for many native species. Including, by the way, rats.

It’s unlikely that there’s a nesting area where birds ONLY have to be concerned about cats. So they probably make nest placement choices based on the certain knowledge that something is hunting them, whether it’s a cat or not.

The question then is, are healthy cats living with humans significantly more efficient at hunting than the local predators are? That one’s much harder to quantify.

There’s also the argument that the displacement isn’t of the birds themselves, but rather of the next step up the food chain–that cats can crowd out competitive local predators. That’s another greater area issue–if the bird feeders cause the birds to nest near the cats and the cats get their overflow population instead of some other native predator, then it’s the native predator population that gets reduced, not necessarily the birds themselves.

But in any case it’s not the 8′ or so around the feeder that’s the main issue–it’s the ecosystem for about a mile around it that may be significantly affected.

@Robin – And, of course, the reality that pet cats are kept at a much higher population level than they would be if they were wild predators. So, even if only 1% of what a cat catches is a native species, if the population is 1000 times denser than it would be if they were wild animals, that impact is magnified.

Since this is the internet, I think I should add that this isn’t a counter to Robin, but just an additional piece of information that was omitted from that excellent post.

Good point! There is yet another factor regarding population density as well…in agricultural areas, including farms like Trisha’s, some biologists have argued that the incredible increase in food supply for rodents causes booms in their populations, and cats are an appropriate and reasonable response which in fact may help preserve existing woodlands species nearby. (As I mentioned before, rats attack bird nests as well.) And that this is why hundreds of years of farm cats didn’t wipe out all the local birds in the past.

Now, though, we have seen a very rapid growth in nonagricultural suburban areas in less than 100 years. With lot sizes of 1/3 of an acre and a cat for every third house, suddenly “free roaming” cats aren’t 6 or 7 per 50 acres that also gave significant rodent populations, but rather almost 10 times as many cats with a much smaller rodent population on the same 50 acres. So in non farm areas it’s way more cats, way fewer rodents, and the local native fauna, what’s left of them, bear the brunt.

But I personally doubt if the issue was ever really barn cats. I’m not sure it’s an indoor/outdoor argument as much as it’s a population density argument, particularly in nonfarm areas.

Just a question.. It’s known that rodents infected with Toxoplasma gondii are attracted to the smell of cat urine. The cat kills the rodent, the cat eats the rodent, the cat becomes infected with Toxoplasma gondii, it reproduces in the cat, oocytes are shed in the cats feces, and spread in the soil and anything else that comes in contact with the cat feces.. Rodent comes along eats something that has an oocyte on it, becomes infected.. Is attracted to cats.. Has anyone considered it possible that in some cases, the cats are drawing the rodents in? I know that despite having several cats all my life, we have always had rodents. The cats are not very good mousers, sad to say, and the best way I had of discouraging them is a friendly relationship with the local pet store, and a fresh supply of ferret bedding. Then when I got my yorkies.. Well, they are a terror to cats, sine my current group are too old to do more than go, oh, look a mouse. Meh. I’m just curious if anyone has thought of this connection between cats and rodents.

My cats are all indoor cats, two of them rescues found as kittens on the street. One ran off and disappeared for a couple years, and then came back a couple years ago, and she’s been indoor only since.. I think though, she was sick of the street life, she has no interest or desire to go outside ever again, lol. But in all the years I have had cats, they have been indoor only, because of the high chances of dogs, cats, other cats, poisoning and the cruelty of other humans.

I am glad to see that there are responsible cat owners posting here. No domestic animal should be allowed to roam for their own safety. It makes me sick to see a cat, especially one with a collar on, mangled on the road. TNR may have begun with good intentions, but it is inhumane just as it would be with dogs. Cats are a domestic predator and an invasive, destructive one at that. Cats were selectively bred to do a job and that job is to hunt. They belong in homes with humans or in outdoor enclosures, not roaming freely. The lack of laws and regulations have created the throw away mentality that humans have with cats. Freedom does not mean you have to run free of all constraints. Even wild animals have boundaries and territories. We have a farm with no cats. Not all rodents are bad and need to be eliminated from the world. Native rodents are a source of food for native wildlife. We also have ground nesting birds, amphibians, bats, and small mammals here.

This is the third time I am leaving this comment. Appears to me the only thoughts you’d ‘love to hear’ are ones not different from yours.

I have a very difficult time believing that we NEED cats to control rodents. Aside from the predation issue, there is the spread of diseases to consider, particularly toxoplasmosis. My understanding (and this is based on peer-reviewed literature) is that cats are not effective for rat control for the following reasons.

Predation by cats can skew rat population size toward larger rats. Predation by cats on juvenile rats is compensated by reproduction of adults, which are not typically hunted by cats. They scavenge the same food. Food at colonies can increase local rat populations.

Tyler Flockhart at the University of Guelph (OVC) has done some interesting research on TNR programs. I’ve heard his presentation and it was fascinating…but when I looked it up to post a link I was baffled. I’m just not a stats person, and his research is based on population models. Anyways if anyone chooses to look into his research its not that hard to find.

Free-roaming cats are not just a problem for birds. Small mammals, reptiles and amphibians also suffer from predation by these cats. Like birds, these animals are all important parts of the habitats in which they live, fulfilling roles that we often poorly understand. Extra predation pressure from a non-native species like free-roaming cats takes its toll. One of my concerns with TNR is that it does little to alleviate cat predation on wildlife. Much of a cat’s hunting behavior is instinctual and they kill wildlife even when they are not hungry. As an environmental educator, I talk to many cat owners who are clueless about the damage their cat can cause to local wildlife. Some simply don’t care, but most are genuinely concerned and are very interested in becoming part of the solution. As for my two rescue cats, they live contentedly indoors, venturing out in the backyard only when they are supervised by myself and the three dogs.

Thanks for adding to the commentary Vicky. You are correct that predation on birds is not the only problem, small mammals (the preferred prey of cats actually) suffer greatly from free roaming cats. (Thus, my apologies to the Red Tailed Hawks as they fly over the farm.) I am glad that your cats are content indoors; I only wish that were true of many others. As a behaviorist I am have many cats with serious behavioral problems that I suspect would be non-existent if they were allowed to go outdoors. It is indeed a complicated issue. What is good is that we are now in a conversation about it, and cat owners are increasingly aware of the problems that cats can create. Keep up the good work educating cat owners about the importance of managing pet cats as we do pet dogs.

RC: I don’t know why your earlier comments didn’t show up; I’ve been gone a week and the good Katie M has kindly been posting comments for me. We do post all comments except ones that are disrespectful or include some kind of personal insult. So I am happy that you have taken the time to respond. It is indeed true that cats also carry a potentially dangerous disease, toxoplasmosis. I am going to push back, however, on the argument that cats do not prevent rat infestations. Although one experience is not data, I can tell you that “rats here” and “rats not here” are perfectly correlated with “cats here” and “cats not here.” All of my farmer friends seem to have the same experience. What I found was that the cats indeed did kill young and adolescent rats, not adults. But the adults left after just a few weeks. They return within a few weeks if there is not a cat hunting the barn. But yes, you are right that there are downsides to letting cats roam free; that is why I wrote the post.

I’ve been offline a lot, between holidays and illness, so I am late to the party. While it does not answer the question of what to do about feral colonies, I wonder if any of the farms in your area have tried terriers instead of cats? They can still do a number on native rodents, but they aren’t as likely to go after birds as a cat is. I know horse farms sometimes keep them as ratters.

The study, by its own admission, was unable to actually get a count of cats in the separate areas based on tracks. Nor did they try to trap cats. So although they describe the differentiated areas as “cats” vs “no cats” in fact what they delineated were areas where supplemental cat food was being placed out by local people unrelated to the study. So they were really “cat food” areas vs “no cat food” areas.

In addition, again as the study acknowledges, many local native predators, including foxes and raccoons, were also eating the cat food.

So what they in fact observed is that it’s easier to count cats when you put out feeding stations. (The inability to differentiate the two areas on the basis of footprints demonstrates the problem.) And that populations of trapped rodents of some types, but not others, were higher in areas where cat food was put out.

But they actually did not show that the cats themselves were hunting anywhere near the feeding stations. Nor did they get accurate counts of hunting population densities. Nor did they show whether it was cats hunting more or less vs foxes or other local predators. Nor did they have any before and after controls over the feeding stations themselves: these were public lands where food was put out by local residents unconnected to the study.

Labeling an area “cat” vs “no cat” is not in itself a scientific observation. “Cat food station” vs “No cat food station” would have been much more accurate in this particular case.

Ultimately the study design makes it hard to tell what the data might mean, other than that quite a few cats were willing to show up at feeding stations.

In Africa, biologists observe hunting patterns through infrared cameras that record 24 hour video. It would be interesting to see something similar done with feral cat colonies.

While you make some valid points, you are making some invalid conclusions. You can raise a valid question about authors missing cats in “no cats” areas, but you cannot conclude that what they observed is “that it’s easier to count cats when you put out feeding stations”. Perhaps they did observe that it is easier to count cats when you put out feeding stations, or perhaps their observations are due to fewer cats in the “no cats” areas. Note that footprints do not bring any clarity to the issue since footprints were not observed at all in “no cats” areas and observed once in the “cats” area.

What they did observe for sure though is that areas with cat food created some serious ecological issues. Your own comments point to the idea that you think feeding is the root cause of the issues. I am guessing you would agree then that subsidized outdoor cats are not a good thing.

The study also provides a rather strong indication that there is significant collateral damage to native wildlife from cats being used as mousers. Just to be clear, are you denying the impact of free-roaming cats on the environment and wildlife or are you simply stating that you think that this study did not show the impact?

The infrared cameras sound interesting. Perhaps, something along the lines of this (http://www.kittycams.uga.edu/) could be done at feral cat colonies. Though getting caregivers to participate is rather unlikely.

I’m with Trish on this one. In an ideal world, my cats are indoor, neutered and up to date on shots. However, I had her exact experience, as did my sister. When my neighbors mostly outdoor tom died, the mice started to appear. And this in a semi-urban, old neighborhood with small yards and fences. So the cats tended to stay fairly close to their own yards, and there wasn’t a lot of other typical ‘wildlife’ present. A few skunks, mice, rats, an occasional possium, squirrels and birds. My 2 cats were indoor/outdoor for years, but as they aged, they tended to stay inside and when they reached 19 & 20yrs respectively, the rat population and their accompanying damage in my detached garage skyrocketed.

My sister lives in the country on 12 acres. She has the same experience, no cats, lots of mice and rats.

I know when I lived in Hayward, CA many decades ago, there was an old local law on the books that feral cats and free roaming cats were NOT to be interferred with. By hard experience, they found that nestled in the foothills, without cats, the roof rat population skyrocketed.

I was commenting only on that particular study, not the wider issue. It didn’t appear in a peer reviewed journal, and I think the design concerns are clear. It showed a few inconsistent correlations, but no causation, whether of feeding or anything else. They observed rodents as well as native predators eating the food put out for the cats, and some rodent populations higher and some lower. They made a lot of guesses about what might be causing what, but didn’t demonstrate any direct connections because they lacked controls to isolate any one factor from another.

The biggest difference was in bird populations. Areas with cat feeding populations had lower bird populations. But we still don’t know why. It could have been simply due to the presence of the people who were putting put the food. To test, they should at the very least have set out similar feeding stations in the “no cat” areas and visited them regularly, filling them with inedible gravel and pouring it out again so as to replicate a similar amount of human activity and noise. But that wasn’t done.

So, no, I can’t say from this study that feeding itself was problematic. It may be, it may not be, there’s just no data to demonstrate either conclusion in this study. No controls, you see.

My own family’s cats are kept indoors, because we live in an area with coyotes.

As far as scientific evaluation of the impact of cats, well fed or otherwise, on native ecosystems, I have not yet formed a personal opinion. Nor do I have a preferred solution for the problem of feral cat colonies.

I will be interested to see additional research in this area, hopefully with more meaningful controls.

It is not just the difference in bird populations. Change in balance of rodent populations toward exotic species is of concern as well. You are missing the point, though. It does not matter if it’s the cats, the food, or people who place the food – the problem still comes back to having the subsidized cat colony. Personally, based on this and other studies, I think the issue is all three.

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Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.

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